Statement of intent –

• What you want to explore?
• Why it matters to you?
• How you wish to develop your project?
• When and where you intend to begin your study?

Personal:

Within my work, I aim to explore the concept of identity through photography. Due to my deep interest in this subject, I believe I can create personal and expressive representations of self-portraits that capture my sense of self, as well as the way others perceive me differently. I find that no one truly knows me because I present a different version of myself depending on the people I am with. This is something that everyone experiences, as we all shift and adapt our personalities in various contexts. For me, identity in photography offers an insight into the photographer’s deeper understanding of themselves. Photography allows for multiple ways to explore identity visually, creating lasting images that resonate in a viewer’s mind. A photograph captures a more direct and immediate sense of who people are compared to written words or books. From my own personal experiences, I feel that developing my portrait skills, along with my interest in identity, provides an opportunity to delve into the truth of who we are. Whether through a self-portrait or a colorful image that reflects personality, my goal is to visually convey the essence of human identity. Through this creative photographic process, I hope to educate others about how everyone is unique yet shares similar experiences. I aim to highlight the significance of these differences and commonalities, using photography to foster understanding, connection, and awareness. My work seeks to create a space where individuals can express themselves, relate to others, and find meaning in their own experiences.

I wish to develop my project by exploring visualizations of identity, incorporating elements like tableaux, but through the medium of documentary photography. However, in my work, I will stage these images to replicate the effect of a tableau, with the goal of creating an immersive atmosphere that encourages viewers to reflect on the multiple identities they embody. By staging these photographs in a controlled environment, I aim to capture the complexity of identity, inviting viewers to connect with the idea that, like myself, we all navigate different roles and personas depending on our surroundings and relationships.

Photographing myself, I believe, will better replicate the relatability of these experiences. The process of self-portraiture will allow me to convey the nuanced way in which we shape our identities in different contexts. Using both studio lighting and outdoor settings, I plan to photograph myself in a variety of situations—with friends, family, strangers, and also alone. The use of these different environments will help illustrate the contrasts between how we present ourselves in private and public spheres. By incorporating a tripod, I can take control of the framing and composition, enabling me to directly engage with the process and capture the intimate aspects of identity from various perspectives.

In combining these settings and interactions, my intention is to create a series of images that visually explore how identity is not fixed but is fluid and influenced by the people around us and the environments we inhabit. Through these photographs, I hope to evoke a sense of personal reflection in my audience, encouraging them to consider the many identities they embody throughout their lives.

Project:

Due to my strong interest in the concept of identity, I feel that exploring this theme through a personal, documentary approach will make for an engaging and insightful project. I aim to create a series of visual representations that delve into the complexities of identity, focusing on how people express different facets of themselves depending on context, relationships, and personal experiences. Drawing inspiration from my own experiences and observations, I will base my work on the idea that identity is fluid and constantly evolving.

With access to various subjects—friends, family, strangers, and personal encounters—I plan to explore identity from multiple angles, capturing different personalities, moods, and interactions. I believe that photographing people in different settings and with varying degrees of intimacy will help highlight the diverse roles we play in our daily lives. Using a mix of staged and candid imagery, I will aim to depict the complexity of identity through visual storytelling, showing how people project different versions of themselves based on the environment and relationships they are part of.

My work will also draw upon written accounts and personal stories from the individuals I photograph, incorporating their own reflections on identity and self-perception. I will use a combination of studio lighting and natural settings, such as outdoor locations or familiar environments, to further emphasize the contrast between the private and public aspects of identity. Through this approach, I hope to create a deeper understanding of how identity is shaped by our surroundings and interactions, offering a more personal and immersive experience for viewers.

This project serves not only as a reflection on my own understanding of identity but also as an exploration of how others navigate the complex and ever-changing nature of who they are. By documenting these different perspectives, I aim to share a multifaceted view of identity that resonates with anyone who has ever questioned or reflected upon their own sense of self. Ultimately, I hope this project fosters a greater awareness of the importance of self-expression and how our identities are shaped by the diverse roles we take on in life.

For this photoshoot, I got 4 of my team mates to take photos of, I asked them to go into different posing, with consistent, Rembrandt lighting. Its important to use this lighting technique as it adds a dramatic effect with a lot of the face being in the dark, while keeping it natural looking. It adds a small triangle under the eye that’s in the shadow, drawing more attention towards it. The eyes normally tell the biggest story in a photo so its important to keep the eyes easily visible in a photo. For the camera settings, I set it to manual with iso set to 200. This is to keep the images crisp, as well as giving me control over the focal length with the f-stop and exposure time with the shutter speed. This allowed me to experiment more with these two effects. For some of the shoots, I kept the camera on a tripod, but then decided to keep it off, since basketball isn’t a consistent, repetitive game. So to switch it up I kept changing the camera angle and position to keep it interesting and in the theme of an intense sport. After getting some studio shoots, I had a short amount of time left to get some photos in the indoor sports area. My main inspiration for these images was the sports photographer Neil Leifer.

I plan on doing more of a story like photoshoot next, but since this is my first photoshoot, I didn’t what to go straight into it, so I kept it light hearted and playful. This was to show the importance of basketball for these people, and how much enjoyment they get from playing it.

Here are 4 united portraits of my team mates, with the same Rembrandt style lighting for each. I asked them to keep a neutral face at first, but I ended up choosing different images, which presents there personality more, making this montage of images a bit more interesting. For example, harry (bottom right) put his headphones on because he’s always listening to music. I used a flash light on a 45 degree angle to there face, allowing me to keep the ISO as low as possible to get very crisp and high quality images.

Above I asked them to hold the ball in front of them, as its a common basketball pose. I think these images work better on there own but when I get to the experimenting phase I will try a multi-exposure or try to crop it so a montage will work well.

Here are two images that I edited in black and white with the settings above. For the top Image, there was a lot of the studio showing which I didn’t like so I used layer masks to remove it. However, for the lower image I didn’t end up cropping or layer masking the studio parts out, since I think it acts as a frame to the image, keeping the attention on the subject.

Here I experimented with selective colour fill to draw more attention towards the basketball, while keeping the rest in black and white. My friends face is very serious instead of deadpan, making this image more dramatic. I also used Rembrandt lighting again to further add a dramatic effect. I used a very slow shutter speed to give a sense of motion from the spinning ball, adding a sense of time to the image. I also like this image as it looks like those pictures which, when you change your viewing angle it changes the image shown.

This image at the top was heavily inspired by famous sports photography, like the one below it, a photo of LeBron James dunking from Dwyane Wade’s assist, leading the heats to victory, as well as being one of the most iconic basketball photos ever. To replicate it, I asked my friends to do a similar movement to the athletes. I shot this image portrait instead of landscape because I wanted my own twist on the image, as well as showing each of the subjects fully. The main difference between my image and Gash’s 2010 shot is that his is a documentary and mine is a tableaux. Here is my edited version of it:

I’m not to sure about this edit, where I increased the contrast, decreased the shadows and added a layer mask covering the subjects, as it look a little scary when it was suppose to be a light hearted image, so I think Ill leave the image as is.

Here is a montage I put together which I quite like above.

Here, I took a lot of inspiration from Tom Woods photos, where sometimes he would get teens to pose in the camera, however with my photo I took it in a studio instead of in the street. This photo here almost looks like a boy band which I find funny. I edited the colour grading a little bit to give an older look.

The three terms that I took into consideration when looking for what I wanted to explore were OBSERVE, SEEK, and CHALLENGE. These terms really helped me decide what exactly I wanted to and how I wanted to do it.

Although my final decision was hard, I am certain that I want to produce a project that address’s heritage. Growing up, I knew I was different from all the other Jersey born kids in my school. My food was different, my lifestyle was different and my holidays looked different. Hearing my classmates say that they were going to all these exotic places whilst my holidays were returning to my home country, which to my younger self was not holidays, was devastating. However I can now admit that visiting my home country every year is not only a blessing but something that I look forward to every year and although I used to think that Jersey had nothing to do with me, a Portuguese citizen, I soon realised that many Portuguese people migrated to Jersey which meant that I was exposed to the Portuguese culture more than I thought I would be. This doesn’t mean that I feel somewhat connected to my Portuguese side, so exploring heritage through my photography is important to me because I want feel more connected to my Portuguese nationality and culture.

I want to feel connected to the disconnected.

Sometimes returning to Madeira felt depressing. I felt like I didn’t belong there, like I didn’t have just as much rights as the people who have lived there their entire lives. Being constantly called English by relatives who lived in Madeira was really annoying. In some way, I actually started to kind of believe that I was English, my nationality was English and so was my culture. What was most frustrating was when someone asked me about a place or thing in Madeira, and I had no clue what they were talking about because I was stripped away from my home at such a young age that the only thing that felt familiar was places and things related to Jersey. I was so clueless about my own country and that was embarrassing. That said, as I grow up, I realise that I’m not that lost about my country, I know more about Madeira than I thought I did. I am more connected that I thought, but not enough.

I want to explore Madeira in more depth, I want to seek comfort, I want to find aspects that define Madeira. I want to zoom in and appreciate things and places in Madeira that I often overlook or ignore. I want to know what makes me ‘Madeiran’. And most importantly I want to discover my heritage and be able to tell a story through photography. I want to challenge myself in terms of defining what heritage means to me. I want to observe Madeira, and be able to clearly know what Madeira means to me.

I want to develop my project by capturing images of places, things, objects, people or even moments that to me feel like connecting to my heritage, my identity. I will have sections in my project to distinguish the story I want to tell which will be separated by a Madeira flag or something that says Madeira. These sections will be clear and evident which should show that there is different sections to the project. For an example in section 1 I will have images of objects or things that to me are seen as something that is connected to my culture/heritage. Like Portuguese dolls, dresses and traditional toys and objects. Then section 2 will be about the people that to me remind me of my heritage, are important to me and that make me feel bonded to Madeira. Then finally section 3 will be about places and moments that are important or significant to me.

I will begin my study a week or two before Christmas holidays where I will take pictures of traditional Portuguese aspects, like Portuguese clothing, objects and more. I also intend to photograph images from the past of when I was younger. These images are perfect for my project as it shows what it was like growing up as a Portuguese child in a English island. Some of these images will be produced in a studio and a natural setting, like outside or a garden. Then during Christmas holidays, I’m staying in Madeira so I will also produce images in Madeira and take advantage of the fact that i’m in my home country where everything is authentic in terms of heritage and the Portuguese culture. I will stay there for nearly 3 weeks and during these weeks I will create my images in my home town, Estreito, Camera De Lobos, in my own home and other parishes I will visit etc…Funchal, Curral das Freiras and more. I will still continue to produce images when I return to Jersey as there is things that I have in Jersey that still remind me of my heritage.

When it comes to editing, I will use lightroom and Photoshop to enhance and edit my images. I intend to make most of my images in black and white, especially images from the past. I plan to use Photoshop to experiment and create images for my final product. These experiments can be like placing an image from the past on top of Portuguese texture or tiles or selecting parts of an image that shows Portuguese patterns and placing the cut out on top of a portrait or landscape.

inspirations etc artist refrence

Artist Case Study 1:

Jim Goldberg

Jim Goldberg is an influential American photographer and visual storyteller best known for his intimate and socially conscious work that explores the lives of marginalized individuals. His most renowned project is Raised by Wolves (1985), which captures the lives of homeless teenagers living in the streets of San Francisco during the 1980s. This project, which blends documentary photography with personal narratives, provides a raw and empathetic look at the struggles of these youth as they navigate survival, identity, and hardship.

Jim Goldberg was born in 1953 in New York City. He grew up in a family that fostered his creative interests, particularly in the realm of visual art. Goldberg attended the San Francisco Art Institute, where he began developing his photographic style. His education there helped shape his approach to photography as a tool for social commentary and personal storytelling.

The Raised by Wolves project, which Goldberg began in the early 1980s, is perhaps his most defining work. The title refers to the metaphorical idea of teenagers being abandoned or left to fend for themselves, with little or no support from family or society. Goldberg documented the lives of homeless teenagers living in the streets of San Francisco, focusing on their struggles and resilience.

What makes Raised by Wolves unique is Goldberg’s method of combining his photographs with the teenagers’ handwritten notes, journal entries, and letters. This combination of imagery and text gives a voice to the often overlooked and voiceless subjects in his work. It also allows the viewer to connect with the teenagers on a deeper level, revealing their personal experiences, dreams, fears, and moments of vulnerability.

The project provides a window into the social issues surrounding youth homelessness, but it also humanizes these teenagers in ways that challenge stereotypical portrayals. The images show them in a range of contexts: from moments of hardship to moments of defiance and joy. The handwritten text in the margins of the photographs often reads like personal diaries, bringing an emotional depth to the narrative.

Goldberg’s work is characterized by its unflinching realism and sensitivity. He often spends extended periods with his subjects, allowing him to develop trust and access to more intimate moments. His ability to capture the humanity of his subjects, particularly those living on the margins of society, is central to his approach. The combination of photography and text creates a dialogue between the image and the narrative, emphasizing the power of storytelling.

While Raised by Wolves is Goldberg’s most famous project, his body of work spans many years and addresses various social issues, including poverty, identity, and the human condition. Throughout his career, Goldberg has used his photography to challenge the viewer’s understanding of these issues and to highlight the resilience of individuals who are often ignored or stigmatized.

Artist Case Study 2:

Jo spence

Jo Spence (1934–1992) was a pioneering British photographer and activist, renowned for her deeply personal and socially engaged photographic work. Throughout her career, Spence used photography as a tool for self-exploration, political critique, and social change, tackling issues related to class, health, gender, and identity. Her work is known for its raw, unflinching portrayal of the human condition, particularly focusing on the realities of working-class life, illness, and the body’s transformation.

Jo Spence was born on June 6, 1934, in London, England, and grew up in a working-class family. After leaving school at the age of 15, she worked in a variety of jobs, including as a secretary and in the civil service. Her early life experiences in the working-class community shaped much of her later work, particularly her interest in class-based inequalities and the way they intersected with broader social issues.

In her early career, Spence worked primarily as a commercial photographer. She was a freelance photographer for several years and gained success for her work in the fashion and portraiture genres. However, she grew disillusioned with the commercial side of photography and began to focus on personal, experimental projects that questioned the nature of photographic representation.

Jo Spence’s photographic practice was deeply tied to her personal and political beliefs. Several key themes run through her work:

1. Class and Identity: Spence’s working-class background heavily influenced her work, and much of her photography addresses issues of class, social inequality, and identity. She used her own experiences to highlight the ways in which working-class individuals are often marginalized or erased in mainstream narratives.
2. Feminism and the Body: As a feminist, Spence critiqued traditional representations of women in the media and sought to reclaim control over the representation of her own body. In projects like The Picture of Health and her later series The Body Work (1987), Spence explored the intersections of gender, health, and the medical gaze, using photography to confront the societal expectations placed on women’s bodies.
3. Autobiography and Self-Representation: Spence’s work is also highly autobiographical. She used her own body and experiences as the subject of much of her work, allowing her to explore issues of identity, health, and personal transformation. Her photography often served as a means of empowerment and resistance to the societal forces that sought to control or define her.
4. Collaborative Approach: Spence was also committed to collaborative photography. She worked with others, including marginalized communities, to create photographs that were informed by the subjects’ perspectives rather than being imposed by the photographer’s gaze. She believed that photography could be a participatory, communal experience rather than one that objectified the subject.